I was invited by More Sailing to holiday on the catamaran, Amfitrite around the islands of Croatia. We met our skipper Julius and our host, Julia, at Trogir Marina. First impressions were good! Julius and Julia were so welcoming, they showed us around the boat and explained a few house rules; no shoes onboard; communal areas kept tidy; help yourself to drinks from the fridge (my favourite!). The cabins were compact, but there was room enough for our belongings and the beds were so comfortable I really slept well.
Do take sea sickness tablets, the sea was quite rough at the start of our journey so Kwells were my best friend! Julius and Julia really looked after us, with advice on how to feel less sick (look at the horizon and eat regularly). On the first night we moored up in a small bay which was much calmer, Julia produced the most amazing charcuterie board and we all got to know each other a bit more. Going to sleep on a gently rocking catamaran was lovely!
The following day breakfast was at 8am, porridge with apple and cinnamon, a fruit platter, breads, cereals – delicious! We set sail at 9am, the sea was still quite rough so we mainly sat and chatted whilst Julius drove. Julia bought out elevensies to keep us going. One thing to note is that you definitely won’t go hungry on this trip! We stopped in another beautiful bay for lunch, I decided that I’d had enough of sitting about so I and another two guests went for a swim, the water was quite chilly but so lovely and clear.
While we were in the water Julia was preparing yet another lovely meal. We ate and set off again, finally mooring up for the night at a small town. Just opposite our mooring were very nice shower and toilet facilities. We all decided to go out for dinner as a group, there was quite a lot of choice but Julia had recommended one place that we all really liked the look of so we decided on that. She also offered to book us a table but as it was slightly out of season we decided to risk it. The food and service was excellent, with plenty of choice for all tastes and dietary requirements.
The next day, after another lovely breakfast, we set off, Julius asked me if I’d like to drive, it was surprisingly easy, although he did quite politely mention that I was perhaps driving a little fast. As we got into the open water he appeared on top of the boat carrying quite a big buoy – shouting ‘Man overboard!’ he threw it into the water, and then told me to try and rescue it. After a lot of reversing over the poor thing we eventually managed to get it back on board, everyone got involved, there was a great sense of camaraderie.
We sailed on to another lovely cove (Croatia is full of them) where we swam and had lunch, we then took turns in the little boat taking each other around the cove which was great fun. Back on board the sun had come out and we lazed about while Julius took us back to Trogir for our final night onboard. I was really sad to leave Amfitrite and our new friends, it was such an adventure, one that I would recommend to everyone.
